


make our own magic

by noblealice



Category: Legend of the Seeker
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Het Relationship, Established Relationship, F/M, Kid Fic, Motherhood, Post-Apocalypse, Pregnant Sex, Woman on Top
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-01
Updated: 2012-10-01
Packaged: 2017-11-15 10:42:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/526421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noblealice/pseuds/noblealice
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Richard and Kahlan are together and Rahl is defeated but the world is mostly destroyed, leaving them to battle against nightmares, memories of the past and worries about the future.</p>
<p>(AU!future fic, deviates post 1x21, originally written for Sword_of_Lies's Kink Ficathon on LJ)</p>
            </blockquote>





	make our own magic

It takes them awhile to finally stay in one place for a few moons. The world is so different now and there are places where the unleashed magic has scorched the earth. She wonders how far they will have to travel to escape their guilt. Every time Kahlan gets comfortable in their latest makeshift camp is the day Richard suggests they move on. So when she returns from the nearby stream to see him him sizing up logs and asking her opinion on where they should dig their cold cellar she gapes at him for a moment.

He works long hours under the sun, back aching and muscles tense underneath her fingers at night. At first he just holds her in his arms, terrified of crushing her or squeezing too tight. She does what she can to reassure him that this is what she wants but he never seems to believe it until she says the words out loud. So she takes to asking for his hand on her waist and his leg tangled with hers and if they don’t sleep soundly, at least they sleep for longer patches of time.

Slowly but surely the cabin in his mind turns into the cabin in their clearing.

\---

She concentrates on building up their food stores because even if he finishes the cabin before the first frost, they’ll have a hard winter ahead of them. The closest inhabited dwelling to them is a nest of opossums in the forest because Richard is still wary of big cities after burning down The People's Palace. She gets used to the quiet eventually because his screams at night are louder than anything she wants to hear.

When he wakes with a gasp from the nightmares and starts clutching her like she might leave him too, she just cradles his head against her shoulder, shushing him gently. Bursts of air gush out of him like dry sobs against her collarbone and she starts to kiss him before he begins list all their names - neither of them will fall back to sleep after that.

\---

The final log is fit into place as the sun sets, painting the sky and Kahlan’s cheek’s a rosy pink.

They smile at each other for a long time before he ducks down to grab her beneath the knees, picking her up and cradling her against his chest.

“Welcome to our new home.” He murmurs into her hair as he crosses the threshold. She easily loops her arms around his neck, staring up at the slight stubble on his chin. 

She moves one hand to cup his cheek. “Take me to bed.”

After setting her down, his hands move from her shoulders to her waist and his thumbs slide back up to caress the sides of her breasts. They take turns with the laces of her gown, but Richard sheds all his own clothing. She wants to stare at him, commit him to memory but all too soon he’s rolling them in bed until he’s on top. She knows that she still has faded burn marks around her neck from the rada’han and he’ll always have a bit of a limp from a deep gash too far up his left leg, but they revel in each other’s imperfections. They know to be gentle as they kiss around each other’s bruises. Fingers trace each other at a languid but deliberate pace as they re-learn the bodies of the people they have become.

It’s a slow and shattering experience, their hesitancy leads to a new level of intimacy as Richard constantly looks to her eyes for permission.She can’t find it within her to utter a coherent word, just lets moans and sighs escape her lips as he moves above her, but she feels like it’s the first time they've really talked in ages.

She turns her head to the side to allow him access to her neck and neither of them smile as he thrusts into her in the dark but neither of them cries either.

\---

His nightmares seem to stop soon after she tells him she's pregnant but he still has a look in his eyes that remind her of the horses that they found trapped in the fires, wild with panic. 

Throughout it all, he never reaches for the familiar weight of a trusted hilt. Instead, he leaves the Sword of Truth in it’s scabbard to collect dust underneath their bed. He’d last held it in hands so slick with blood that it almost slipped from his grip. He vowed not to spill another drop for the rest of his days.

She makes a new vow the afternoon she feels the first kick from inside her belly - she will do anything to protect her family. She cannot keep her daggers in her boots with her feet already starting to swell, so she straps them around her forearms instead.

She doesn't know what his exact fears are, except that they have nothing to do with the baby. If anything, the baby is the only thing Richard is ever confident about, smoothing out every crease in her forehead with a kiss as he tells her that everything she's feeling is natural and expected.

She looks at the remnants of the world around her, thinks of the people her child will never meet and wonders what they were thinking.The skies still crackle with green lightning, the consequences of an otherworldly rift that Zedd had to sacrifice his life to heal.

She wonders about the life growing inside of her, if it will be a girl with the power to steal choice and force devotion. She wonders about her own magic, has never felt it overtake her when with Richard and wonders if it was also lost during the Purge of Orden. Her judgement between right and wrong never stemmed from her ability to Confess people, but her authority did. She’s not had the opportunity to test out whether or not she can still control others with a touch and she doesn't know if she even wants to find out.

One thing she is sure of, her child will not grow up in fear like she and Dennee did, not with Richard as a father and not as long as she draws breath. She will be loved and taught compassion to temper her discipline, whether she can Confess people or not.

\---

She feels fat and slow and thinks that Richard will want nothing to do with her, but instead, he regards her with even more awe now as he cups her belly - like he's just realising now that she possesses real magic - and it's this small bump that they created together.

She begins to feel like a mere shadow of her former confident self and she cries when she can no longer lace up the front of her white Confessor’s gown. Richard sits with her, rubbing her back and holding her hand making promises she knows he can’t keep but that feel good to hear. She pushes him down on his back, prepares to ride the bad mood out of her system, concentrating on only the feeling of their bodies joined. She can't think of anything else but the feeling of his muscles tensing underneath her own. She moans loudly when his hand hitches her leg over his lap so she can be on top, their default position for these last few months. He thrusts up into her hard as her hands wander along his chest before moving up to hold onto his shoulders for support. Soon she’s crying out for a completely different reason and when she collapses, loose-limbed and sated he kisses and licks every inch of her kiss he can reach, detailing how beautiful he finds her between each caress of his lips.

Luckily, his desire for her never fades and Kahlan thanks the Creator because now with her hormones ruling her thoughts she wants him _all the time_. She'd feel ashamed of how wanton she's become but Richard’s enthusiastic smile washes all thoughts of shame away. She never feels like he’s merely indulging her selfish urges, instead he whispers into her ear until her face is flushed with want. 

Near the end of her pregnancy she find sleeping through the night a chore and takes to turning to him in the middle of the night figuring that they might as well both be kept up by the kicks of their baby. He brushes her hair out of her faces and turns her on her side so he can use his fingers on her, stroking fast and hard. His voice croons into her ear and she’s so sensitive to his touch, her nerve endings feel on fire with each sweep of his thumb. All too soon she’s gasping and shuddering around his name, his hand still lazily working her until she’s finally calm enough to fall back asleep.

\---

The cabin doesn't have any windows or entrances other than the large front door. She wishes that she had asked for a window a year ago. It would be nice to overlook her new garden while inside, but Richard had designed the layout while they still were looking over their shoulders at every snapped twig. At that time, being able to see the only entry-point from all corners of their home was a necessity.

So now when she wants to watch him work she has to pad to the door and peek out at him holding their daughter, hips swaying from side to side as he points out various landmarks and sings into her messy hair.

It's Richard's turn to prepare dinner so she walks the perimeter because some habits never fade and their vigilance helps them sleep at night. She makes note of new blooming plants and picks up the day's sun-dried laundry from its place on the line.

She notices how quiet it is inside and returns with a confused expression.

“Hey, where is---?”

Richard brings a finger to his lips, his eyes bright with mischief as he points at the child-sized lump of clothes on top of their hamper.

Taryn is sitting underneath one of Richard’s shirts, a sock sliding down to cover one ear and expose her forehead. She's sucking at her fist and trying hard not to move. Kahlan smiles and pretends to inspect their roof as she weaves over to their bed only to suddenly swerve at the last second and jump at her.

“What's this? A bear? A mole? A hare that hopped in to steal our dinner?”

"Be careful, Kahlan! It could be dangerous!" Richard calls from where he's mixing the salad, his enjoyment of their theatrics enthused into every word.

Taryn giggles and Kahlan twirls her round, sending all the spare items of clothing to the floor in an arc.

Richard joins them, cutlery in his hand.

"Hey, girlie." 

He curls a finger under her chin, lightly chucking her.

"You my little girl, huh?"

Taryn finishes dinner with a gurgle and plays with the spoons until bedtime, gripping them tightly and shaking them against the battered wood of the table.

The dishes aren't yet dry when Kahlan picks something up from the hamper.

"Should we talk about these? I found them outside."

"Uh, it’s just rough work, they’re not really finished yet." His hand twists up in his hair as he scratches his ear nervously.

"If it's about needing help, maybe we can hire someone--"

"That's not it. You know we can get by."

She sighs, crossing her arms. "Only if the weather holds."

"It’ll hold. I got a good feeling about this harvest. These are just....well, I thought she might need her own set one day if she’s to be a proper farmer.”

Dumbfounded, she shoots him a quizzical eyebrow, causing him to protest. “She loves the earth, Kay. I think she's got a real feel for it!"

"She's _two_. She likes to eat dirt."

"If you could have only seen how her eyes lit up when we picked those tomatoes...you'll see.”

She rolls her eyes but leaves Richard to his optimism and can’t hide her smile as he whittles child-sized tools by their hearth.

\---

That night, he braces himself above her, his biceps thick and corded from working their crops. His nose is sunburnt from too much time outside but all she can concentrate on are his strong arms holding him above her. It makes her stomach flutter and her knees weak.

The pads of his fingers are rough from more than just sword practice and the dirt under his nails is from the life they've made together. His mouth moves across her chest down to her breast and she has to stifle a moan when his teeth graze a nipple. 

Her genetics are designed for girls but when Richard is on top of her with his toothy grin, she can only hum in agreement when he asks if she wants to try for a boy this time.

**Author's Note:**

> The name Taryn is from the episode "Bloodlines", Zedd calls Jennsen & Richard's mother this name. With no other name to use from the books (regarding both Richard and Kahlan's mothers), I went with the show.


End file.
